Barclays Capital is planning to hire equity derivatives officials to build up a U.S. corporate business. The firm is targeting corporate equity derivatives as the next phase in its U.S. expansion plan.
"It's a natural next step, it's quite complimentary with the businesses that we have today," said Philippe El-Asmar, head of investor solutions for the Americas in New York, citing the success of Barclay's corporate business in Europe and its U.S. high-yield desk.
Up to now, the firm has offered equity derivatives to corporates "opportunistically", said El-Asmar. "Going forward we are focusing on it with scale," he added. Dixit Joshi, head of equity derivatives, declined to give numbers of hires the firm is planning but said it is in the process of adding a number of product specialists.
Most U.S. firms have well-established desks offering equity derivatives for corporate treasury management and mergers and acquisitions, a competitive business in the U.S. Joshi said Barclays believes it can have a competitive edge, however. Its innovation in equity structuring will be attractive to corporate clients and its debt-raising capabilities mean it has already developed strong relationships with U.S. corporates.
